Black Friday, Black Thursday-The Greed that Makes Up Thanksgiving

Davey-D-brown-frameFor many the celebration of Thanksgiving was always a problem because of the genocide that eventually befell Native Americans. The pillaging of land and resources, rape of women and other atrocities for the most part have been erased from our history books and replaced with the story of a festive feast where humanity was recognized and family and community uplifted..

For decades Thanksgiving was one of the few days poor and working class people had off and so in spite of the hidden history of genocide, Thanksgiving had evolved to become a day and time that we spent with family. In short we collectively brought into the idea behind the holiday and for the most part that was a good thing..

Sadly what we are seeing come to the surface are the true colors of this country.. Thanksgiving is not about family and strengthening community. It’s not about giving thanks.. It’s about making money..We saw this emerge with the concept of Black Friday…

About 10-15 years ago we started hearing about bargain basement sales if you were willing go to the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Up to that time most folks would stay home and hang out. For me I recall there would be an annual flag football game between friends and old classmates. Black Friday sales at the mall got hyped up every year and eventually the Football game was jetted for Black Friday. Eventually people turned Black Friday into a family activity So Thursday you’d eat a big meal and the next day you would link up with loved ones and spend a day at the mall..

Black Friday stampedeIt wasn’t long before retailers not satisfied with packed malls which had evolved to serve as defacto family and class reunion hubs started doing these ‘door buster sales,’ which meant folks would no longer take time to show up at the mall, but instead they would have to get up at the crack of dawn to wait on line for a mall to open its doors at 5am…Gone was the family gathering aspect. It was replaced by desperation and greed. Hungry shoppers were no longer leisurely strolling the mall with kids in tow marveling at extravagant Christmas window displays. Many were no longer looking for gifts for friends and relatives, but now standing on line to get something for themselves.  Many would be willing to stampeded over women and children and anyone else who got in their way.

The news stories about happy shoppers and the festiveness we saw at malls were replaced by stories people getting killed or seriously getting injured as folks made mad dashes for the limited items placed on sale.. Each year we saw footage or heard tales of full on fist fights and assaults with patrons fighting over the last cabbage patch dolls or that one last video camera or the only widescreen TV. Others would find themselves getting robbed in the parking lots moments after making bargain basement purchases.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIBL4tYQPI

It wasn’t long before folks instead of showing up at the mall at the crack of dawn, started showing up earlier and earlier. Some would arrive at 3 or 4am in the morning. The lines got longer and loner to the point that folks simply started camping out in front of stores foregoing Thanksgiving meals… The media working in synch with retailers who would spend large sums of money on TV ads would send multiple camera crews to all the malls to show the long lines  and then would position themselves to get the ultimate ‘money shot’ which were hundreds of people stampeding.. The follow-up would be a list of reports about violent incidents and near riots breaking out at various spots around the country..The Thanksgiving feast was becoming an after thought..

Black FridayLast year or the year before,  greedy retailers decided to push the envelope and instead of opening doors at 5am for door buster sales, announced they would open the doors at midnight.. There was some push back but that criticism was quickly dimmed out as media hyped up the sales of TVs, computers and tablets at prices too good to be true.. If you recall last year we were actually told how cheap a 50 inch TV would be and that if we wanted one we better line up at midnight.. They didn’t tell folks that those super cheap items were limited in number..The end result was hundreds of thousands of folks leaving their families and to line up at stores with lines snaking for blocks in some areas..

Here in the Bay Area I went to cover stories att several malls. Each place I went had long lines. The most outrageous was in Emeryville.  The line to get into Best Buy had several thousand people and snaked out of the parking lot all the way to the freeway by 9pm… Very few were online to get gift for Uncle Johnny and Aunt Maggie.. It was about getting a TV for themselves.. Others made this a business and would pay people to stand on-line. Others were there to get as much as they could for cheap only to turn around and sell it on Ebay or in Craigslist for a profit.. The family feast was pretty much a wrap. There would be no more after diner card playing or family chats down memory lane.. It was about eating and dashing off to the mall for stores opening at midnight..

Black ThursdayThis year we are now hearing reports that Black Friday is being phased out..as retailers and malls are opening up on Thanksgiving with the some stores promising of door buster sales at 8pm tonight.. Others are saying they will have door buster sales all day.. What’s lost are days off for low wage workers. many will not be getting overtime or double time pay especially those working at big box stores.. What’s lost is family time. What’s lost is the concept of giving thanks.. This is now being hyped up as Black Thursday…

If you think about it what we are seeing is the completion of a circle.. That first ‘Thanksgiving meal between Native Americans and invading pilgrims was underlined by their greed and the desire to take over.. It wasn’t about the feast, it was about sizing folks and getting them ready to be slaughtered. We are now seeing that today is folks getting primed up to be economically and spiritually slaughtered..We will soon have a generation that will look at the holidays not as a time to spend time with family and loved ones, but a time to go shopping and score a good deal for self..

_-Davey D-

Some Notes on Black Friday… From Festiveness to Desperation

Last night I drove by Best Buy in Emeryville to peep out what was going down with all the so-called door buster Black Friday drama..To say the least it was madness.. More than a 1000 people stood on a line that wrapped around the store and under the freeway when I arrived at 11:15..There was at least 4 squad cars and other security present to keep folks from acting gully, Something about the whole scene wasn’t right..

First thing that went through my mind was how what was supposed to be a festive family oriented time where we fellowship with one another and give thanks for what we have, has turned into an over hyped shopping day, where the focus moves from ‘appreciation and thanks for what I got’ to anxiousness and even anger for expensive things we are told we ‘want’ and told we ‘need’
It was just a few years ago many expressed discomfort about having stores open up so early, around 6 am for so-called door busters. Many the early store openings were cutting into precious family time. With each passing year things got more and more hectic to the point that several people died after being trampled when doors were opened..

Now we have a situation where folks are standing on long lines on Thanksgiving Day.. In fact people were camped out, in tents complete with cooking utensils. Thanksgiving is now an all out shopping day..

Last night just as it neared midnight, I saw families with kids in tow running frantically to get on-line. People were driving erratically trying to find a parking space. Others were trying to make deals with folks standing toward the front of the line to get them a particular item for a fee.

Last night what I saw was a line that reminded me of what you would see at a crowded amusement park..At certain points even after the store was open, there was still a half hour, hour maybe even two-hour wait to get inside to spend your money.

Second thing I noted was how these sales which have knocked prices down 40-60% for many electronic gadgets and TVs underscored how inexpensive these items really are in the first place. A TV that sold for $600, now reduced to $150 was probably made for less than $30 somewhere overseas, where people stand on equally long lines desperate for food, clean water and clothing while we stand on lines to purchase gadgets that we really don’t need.

It was interesting to see that many of the items that drew folks to stand in these long lines were limited. You weren’t guaranteed to get 50″ flats screen TV for $150.00.. But after standing on-line for several hours you were gonna pony up and buy something..Last night I saw hecka folks who wanted TVs come out the store with something else..

Maybe ‘legally’ it wasn’t bait and switch, but it sure seemed that way at the end of the day. People had the attitude they were gonna buy something no matter what. With all the media hype, nobody wanted to leave empty-handed and left feeling like they missed out..

The last thing I noted was how this Black Friday thing has morphed into some sort of bizarre sporting contest. The coverage reminds me of what we see on Sunday when they report around the country about football games.. For Black Friday, you had corporate news anchors spread out all over the country reporting the haps inside malls that ironically have the exact same stores and layouts from coast to coast.

In one scene you have the reporter from Ohio all amped up talking about how there were 3 hour waits and no parking to get inside the mall. Footage of people frantically rushing inside when doors are open accompany his remarks..That’s the money shot reporters are living for..

Next thing we know we have a reporter standing inside the Great Mall outside Minneapolis.. He’s hyped up about how record crowds have showed up, aerial footage showing snaking lines are shown as he seemingly tries to out do the earlier report in terms of how ‘out of control’ things were earlier that night when doors open..

Another reporters standing at a new mall in Livermore , Ca brags about how it the 580 Freeway was almost shut down because there were so many cars were trying to get off at the mall exit. The reporter gets excited as he tells a story of a couple who flew in from Mexico and gave the store manager their luggage so they could go shopping.. It’s pure pandemonium everyone needs to rush on out and wait in line for 2 hours to find parking..

This man here threatened to stab folks if they kept on pushing him

Soon as he’s done we get another report about how insane people are.. One report shows a guy in Sacramento who was being pushed as stores opened before midnight. This man became so enraged that he threatened to stab the next person who bumped him.

The scene quickly switches to another report where angry shoppers are complaining how they stood on lines for hours only to find they had two or three TVs in the store.. The scene quickly switches to a man angry that he didn’t get a ticket to buy a TV but some guy who wasn’t on-line somehow got one. The guy in question explains that he’s an employe of the store and he’s getting his Black Friday shopping on.. We’re left seeing this man talk about how unfair it all is..

Next we cut to a scene showing people sleeping in tents and cooking meals for folks and talking about how they found a ‘new’ family of friends who camp out every year waiting to get deals.

At the end of the 5-10 minutes worth of Black Friday reporting , we have an economics expert come on and tell us that these long lines are indications the economy is recovering and folks and the midnight mayhem is a good thing..

With the emergence of Black Friday, we now have an artificial GMO type of holiday, where the focus has shifted from festiveness to desperation. The focus has shifted from people rushing out to get ‘deals’ to save money as they buy special Holiday gifts for family and loved ones to folks standing on-line to get stuff just for themselves. There were no wrapping tables and gift cards being given out..There was also very little coverage or acknowledgement of folks protesting at Walmart for unsafe and unfair working conditions

Last night was a strange exercise, it kinda reminded me of Hunger Games, where people were being pushed into frantic action. In this case we were all being pushed from all angles in corporate media to shop like your very life depended on it..Heck I even gave in and wound up buying a couple of pen flashlights after I realized there were no more cheap 50″ HD flat screens to be had.

written by Davey D